Operation: Avert Finale
by TripsFallsAndDies
Summary: In which Lorelei is determined to give Luke a happy ending, even if that means hurtling him into the past.
1. Chapter 1

**Heyo people! I wrote this on a rather whimsical whim. Tell me what you think?**

**Thanks to NotAnotherBadEnd for glancing this over like the _wonderful_ older sis she is. Not because she's obsessed with Abyss. Nope! Definitly not the reason...**

**((Please note my sarcasm. Unless your NotAnotherBadEnd. You, NABE, should get a life. (No that does not mean steal mine.))**

**Chapter 1: Time Travel is so overrated!**

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><p>Luke sighed. Time travel wasn't all it was cracked up to be.<p>

In fact, it just made everything_ incredibly awkward_.

"Luke? Is something wrong?" Ah! He had to quit forgetting about Tear!

"I'm fine!" She raised an eyebrow. Had he really looked that deep in thought? "Honestly! I was just in deep thought... about stuff..." Great. Now she really looked skeptical. He totally had deep thoughts. Sometimes.

"If you say so..." Tear continued walking with an air of 'Don't wanna know not gonna ask'.

They were almost at the Liger nest now and Luke needed some new ideas. Unless they found a way to relocate it, Areietta would hunt them down again to avenge 'Mommy', and they would be facing a repeat of Choral Castle...

...stupid flying monsters...

"Master! There's a strong presence ahead!" Mieu piped up from atop of his head. Another new event. Mieu hadn't noticed the Liger Queen's presence until they were on top of her last time. Was it more active for whatever reason this time around?

"Thank you Mieu. Is it a Liger?"

Mieu shook his head. "I can't tell. Its either a reaaalllllly big Liger, or something... else..."

"Something else?" Ion questioned.

"Yeah, what do you-" Wait. Oh sweet Lorelei! (Wait... swearing to his other self? Who was he supposed to pray to or swear at then!?)

His old reflexes of protecting Ion without conscious thought had merged with memories of time spent fighting without him. He had totally forgotten Ion was with them as well!

Somewhat unrelatedly, Ion would do so well as a ninja... Probably why Sync was one now that he thought about it.

"Its probably the Liger Queen. Let's get a move on." Tear mumbled.

They hiked through a few more thickets and over hills and giant tree roots, skillfully evading the odd local fauna. Oddly it wasn't nearly as suicidally aggressive against armed travelers as per usual, but Luke couldn't remember if the Queen had caused something similar last time they had entered the Cheagle Woods.

And that's when s*** hit the fan. They had found, (or in Luke's case re-found. He hadn't gotten lost! Just turned around like seven or eight times... It wasn't his fault! It wasn't like the group had ever gone back to this area!) The roar of an irritated Liger echoed throughout the forest. Great! They were almost to fighting the Liger Queen. How was he supposed to keep it from killing them, or them from killing it? Or the eggs from being smashed? He COULD ask for another powerful being's help. But that wouldn't exactly work, as he had only met a few of them from different places, before Lorelei had sent him hurtling through time. Wait. He was Lorelei, so how did-

"...On second thought, I don't want to know." Luke ducked a tree root with a disgruntled mutter.

"Hmm? Something wrong Luke?" Tear asked. She was a lot more inquisitive this time around, not to mention her posture had relaxed some. Probably had something to do with him not acting his age like last time. (Ugh. Time travel vocabulary. Did this make him 14? In that case, it would be a weird thing not to act his age. On second thought, it wasn't worth the headache.)

"Nothing! That roar sounded close, is all." Luke waved off her concern and glanced at Ion. "Be careful, alright Ion?"

"Thank you for your concern Luke. We should all be extra cautious from here on out." Ion replied.

_'Like we didn't try that last time!'_ Luke mentally screamed. Might as well get this over with...

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><p><strong>Reviews? I'm horrible at beginings, but I'm making an effort I swear!<strong>

**Whelp, that's all for now folks! **

**TripsFalls&Dies**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi. Trips here~ I aplogize for the wait. I was on a rather loooonnngggg internet-less road trip with my family when I finished writing this.**

**NABE- She is v. lazy and I will force her to update for her reviewers. At swordpoint, if I must.**

**Shut it, you.**

**T^T You guys are amazing! Actual reviews! And favorites and follows! *faints***

**Kanon58- Why yes. Yes it is. I thank you for noticing.:D**

**ShiroAkari- Thank you so so much~ I already typed out the next chapter, and starting chapter 3, I promise the word count will exceed 1000~!**

**BlazingFireAngelXXX- :D does this answer your question~?**

**FreeWeirdGal- Pretty much. Even I was confused.**

**Link Fangirl01-YOUR wISh HAS BEEN GRANTED. And thank you!**

**Rhyme13kh14Xion8- Very glad you liked it :D**

**Jarjaxle- haha... Sorry bout that...**

**AnObnoxiousAmerican- *Screams* NO DIST! TAKE NABE INSTEAD!**

**NABE- ...*Uppercuts Dist*...**

**Dist- HOW DARE YOU! THIS IS GOING INTO MY REVENGE JOURNEL! *flees***

**Errr... Enjoy the story...?**

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><p>"Are you ready? The Liger queen is probably going to attack us regardless of negotiations." Tear directed mostly to Luke, the only other party member who could reliably fight.<p>

They were right outside the Liger Queen's lair and readying weaponry. Walk softly and carry heavy combat Artes, or however the proverb went.

The only response that Luke could think of scarily channeled Jade- 'Really? However could you ever come to the conclusion that a nesting mama Liger might attack on sight?' He reprimanded himself upon realizing the others had no way to know she was nesting. That, and Ion beat him to it.

"I checked with Mayor Rose and she informed me that the Ligers' in this area have been surprisingly aggressive as of late. I wouldn't be surprised if the Queen was nesting." Ion chimed in.

Well at least Ion knew to check-

Wait. Ion knew?

Ion knew?

ION KNEW?!

Tear blinked, and nodded. Luke resisted the urge to ask Ion if he was a fellow Replica time traveler. If he wasn't, Luke's reputation would go from resident space cadet to resident lunatic. Which definitely wouldn't help Luke's plan-ish thing to sweet talk everyone into helping him stop Van, save the world, prevent multiple genocides, etc.

"Well Luke? Are you coming?" Tear inquired.

"Y-yeah. Let's go." Time to sink or swim. Or in Luke's case, flail wildly to stay afloat.

They entered the cave and walked towards the imperious Liger queen, curled around her eggs. Mieu hopped off Luke's shoulder and landed with a soft thump on the cave floor. Luke couldn't stop chanting 'please work please work, please work' in his head as Mieu approached with a surprising lack of fear considering he was a prey species approaching a predator.

This would make life sooooo much easier if they succeeded. Arietta and her monsters were a large part of Van's fighting strength, especially when you looked past sheer numbers to the air support and transportation they supplied.

Mieu exchanged a few moments of incomprehensible growls and "mieeeeusss" with the queen, when he suddenly turned back to the group with a broad smile.

"She's already leaving as soon as her pack brings back enough food for the journey! Someone else convinced her to leave already!" Mieu happily float-flapped back to Luke's shoulder.

Ok. Well that had been unexpectedly painless. And really, really strange.

"Really? Who?"Ion asked

"She didn't say!"

'What's weirder than convincing a queen Liger to take her young and just leave?' Luke had the urge to bang his head on the nearest tree and they hadn't even had that much Jade exposure yet.

Okay then, Arietta wouldn't have known to move her 'mother' at this point unless his Ion theory was somehow correct, and Ion hadn't shown any signs he recognized Luke from before (later? stupid tenses). And who other than Arietta could talk a Liger into giving up seemingly primo hunting grounds?

"Ahahahaha... Hey Tear?" Luke left his reverie with a tired laugh and turned to the melodist.

"What is it Luke?" Tear replied with a slight frown.

Annnnnd cue a ginormous explosion right behind them all, accompanied by the death rattle roar of a forest monarch. For a moment as they all turned to look the eggs were miraculously intact. Then the aftershock hit.

Dammit Jade.

He had been _SO CLOSE_ to avoiding all that unnecessary stuff with Arietta. And there went the only one capable of giving a description of whoever had tried to change the Liger-related events.

"My, My.. May I ask what you all are doing out here?" At least Jade would always be Jade, regardless of death, prophecy and time travel.

"WHY DID YOU KILL THAT LIGER?!" Luke snapped, momentarily forgetting it was scary Jade and not sort of awkwardly friends Jade he was facing. "And her eggs!..."

"It was a threat to Engeve, which is inhabited by Malkuthian citizens. And on the subject of threats to Malkuth, Locrian Sergeant Mystearica Grants and Kimlascan Viscount Luke fon Fabre, you are under arrest illegal border crossing and causing a hyperressonance in Malkuth's territory." Jade looked amused. Things usually went downhill for Luke when Jade looked amused almost as much as when he looked upset.

...The sudden appearance of soldiers shouldn't have caught him off guard. They were surrounded just like last time, even if in the nest instead of near it. But, more importantly...

...how did Jade know his name...?

"Because I can read minds. *sigh* Kids these days... Zero respect. Fon Master, Anise went ahead to Baticul to secure an audience with the king." Typical Jade.

No Anise? That was odd. Hadn't she gone to St. Binah last time? No, that had been after the Tartarus when they had met up. Guy had been with them then too.

"That's fine, Colonel. We were investigating why the Cheagles were stealing food and supplies from Engeve. It seems you have solved the problem, even if we had it under control already." Ion was smiling, but not the usual happy or empty smile, more of an Anise I'll-kill-you-later-bastards smile.

Which looked incredibly creepy on him, and Luke suddenly understood why the original Ion had been so isolated and feared a two year old Replica could slip into his place with no one who wasn't supposed to know (save Arietta) the wiser. Like Jade decided to like sunshine and rainbows creepy.

"Well then, shall we head back to the Tartarus? Any objections? No?" Jade again, motioning to his men.

"...None if you can lend me a pair of scissors..."

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><p><strong>End Note: Reviews keep me motivated.~<strong>

**NABE- And my swords sheathed.**

**NABE is my editor now I guess. And she has sharp objects. And she's glaring at me. Please excuse me as I run for my life!**

**Also, throwing random tales of characters into this, to help the party, possibly help Van, be irritating, or just because I felt like it. Suggestions are appreciated and will have a 97.99999999% chance of being used.**

**Peace ~**

**TripsFalls&Dies**


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